


My Littlest Darling

by NoSleepUntilVacation



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Babies, Family Fluff, For a Friend, Gift Giving, Lullabies, M/M, Music, Parenthood, Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-24
Updated: 2021-01-24
Packaged: 2021-03-15 00:14:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28929357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NoSleepUntilVacation/pseuds/NoSleepUntilVacation
Summary: Mettaton has a surprise for his and Papyrus' recently-born child.
Relationships: Mettaton/Papyrus (Undertale)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 17





	My Littlest Darling

**Author's Note:**

  * For [papyruswiki](https://archiveofourown.org/users/papyruswiki/gifts).



> This fic about a gift is itself a gift; happy birthday to my friend Jess, and thank you for being my friend. :D

From the moment he knew he and Papyrus were going to become parents, Mettaton was torn.

He did want this; he and Papyrus had talked about it for a long time beforehand before deciding to go through with it. Papyrus had helped him work through his fears that he would start behaving selfishly again, whether focusing on his own fame above all else or trying to force his child into hobbies and careers they didn't want. Thanks to him, Mettaton was able to remember how much he'd grown as a person since he'd first left Waterfall, and he knew that if he ever did step out of line, Papyrus would be there to help set him back on the right track.

That said, one thing still gave Mettaton pause.

As a celebrity, he knew he couldn't always be there for his child. While his fans accepted him taking some time off in order to start a family, Mettaton had the feeling that, sooner or later, someone would want him to produce some new material. Maybe an executive would approach him with a lucrative deal. Maybe a fellow musician or actor would want to collaborate with him on a project. Maybe he himself would feel that itch to create growing louder and louder until he couldn't take it anymore. Or maybe he would _have_ to produce something, in case his family and/or friends ever fell on hard times; things still cost money even for celebrities, after all.

Hopefully, by the time any of that happened, the child would at least be old enough to start school, so Papyrus wouldn't have to worry too much about his day job.

But still, if it required Mettaton to leave home, especially for an extended amount of time... Mettaton shuddered at the different scenarios his mind came up with. Would he end up missing birthdays, or holidays, or other important events? That had happened a few times before thanks to conflicting tour and filming dates - and at least the people Mettaton had left behind then were old enough to understand the nuances of the situation. Meanwhile, if Mettaton missed out on events important to his young child, would they be able to fully grasp the situation, or would they just think about how one of their dads wasn't there?

Even if Mettaton vowed to never leave home without his family again until the child was old enough to make their own way in the world, there was still another problem - this one relating to Mettaton's sleep cycle. Due to the way his body was designed, whenever Mettaton fell into sleep mode to charge, he wouldn't wake up until the charging completed (unless something happen to cut off his power supply, like an outage or being manually unplugged). For most of his time in a mechanical body, he hadn't thought much of it; however, not long after the child's soul began to form, he realized that this would not be quite as conducive to parenthood. What if the child needed him in the middle of the night, and this was a problem Papyrus alone couldn't solve? What if the child started getting into things they shouldn't have? Incorporeal ghosts didn't require quite as much supervision as other kinds of babies due to their resiliency, so the child was extremely unlikely to actually get hurt, but Mettaton still didn't want to wake up to trouble. And then there was how he'd just feel bad leaving Papyrus alone to handle the child at night; even if Papyrus didn't mind chores, Mettaton still hated the thought of feeling like a freeloader. Alphys had said she was looking into a way to make him more easily able to recharge without needing to plug in or stay unconscious all night, but what would he do until that happened?

With both of those situations in mind, Mettaton spent quite a lot of time coming up with ways to connect with the child - to let them know that, even if he was physically apart from them, they would always be in his thoughts, and he would still be there in spirit.

He'd heard suggestions about leaving one of his possessions in the baby's room, since it would smell like him. Although he partially agreed with this idea, he felt unsure. Scents could fade, after all, and he thought a slightly more permanent reminder would be more reassuring.

But for the longest time, he didn't know where to start.

It was while he and Papyrus were looking for furniture for the nursery that an idea finally struck. They were looking for a little music player to go with the children's music CDs Shyren had gifted them, when Mettaton lingered for a bit while perusing the options.

Papyrus noticed Mettaton's hesitation. "Nyeh? Did you want this one, Mettaton?"

"Huh?" Mettaton noticed that he'd been staring at a slightly big stereo system. "Oh, no, I want to keep looking. This might be a bit overkill for a newborn, anyway - I at least want to wait until their first birthday."

"All right."

The two continued looking, and Mettaton whispered to Papyrus. "I was just thinking, darling... I have an idea for a present I'd like to give our child."

"Oh! Is it in this store?"

Mettaton shook his head. "Actually, I would make it myself, using things we already have."

Papyrus nodded, unable to help the concern flashing onto his face as he glanced down towards Mettaton's torso. "Just don't push yourself too hard, all right?"

To avoid too many intrusive and repetitive questions from strangers, Mettaton - in place of his usual chest armor - had worn a long shirt covering his soul casing for this shopping trip. Beneath the shatterproof glass of the soul casing, a tiny yet steadily-growing soul developed while attached to Mettaton's larger soul; as of the past couple of weeks, the soul casing had also began to cloud over with mist, which would grow thicker over time and eventually form the little ghost's body upon birth.

"Don't worry, darling. This shouldn't require me to exert myself too much." Mettaton gently squeezed Papyrus' hand in reassurance. "I'll tell you more about it in the car, if you'd like."

Despite his concerns, Papyrus agreed; Mettaton may have been a risk-taker at heart, but even he knew when to play it safe, especially now with parenthood in his near future.

And indeed, when the couple eventually finished their shopping trip and returned to the car, Mettaton described his idea to Papyrus - who only had one thing to say to it.

"Oh, wowie!"

* * *

"Oh yes, seems like everything's perfect."

Mettaton retrieved the disc from his computer and set it back into its jewel case - just in time to receive a text from Papyrus.

_I MIGHT NEED YOUR HELP SOON!_

It didn't take five seconds for Mettaton to know what Papyrus meant, and he sent his reply.

_Is Cooper still awake?_

Papyrus' reply came after what must have been some frantic typing: _YES!!! I READ THEM THREE STORIES, AND THEY'RE STILL AWAKE! EVEN FLUFFY BUNNY DIDN'T WORK!!!_

_Oh, my, that is serious... I'll be right there._

_THANK YOU!!!_

Mettaton, after double-checking to make sure he still had the disc with him, quickly made his way out of his basement recording studio and up towards the nursery. He didn't hear any crying on the way, so at least the situation was somewhat under control; then again, their newest family member tended to be surprisingly quiet most of the time.

Finally, he made it into the nursery. The room had a bit of a sky theme going, with sky-blue walls and white and yellow furniture, as well as appropriate decorations - not that most of it was visible now, with the lights being mostly dimmed. There was, however, a little extra light near the crib, courtesy of a nightlight shaped like Mettaton's box form.

Also near the crib stood Papyrus, who waved at Mettaton with a weary smile. "I'm so glad you're here, my special star! I fear my storytelling may have been a little too exciting!"

"Learned from the master, have we?" Mettaton gave a quiet laugh before holding up the disc he'd brought. "Worry not, though - this should help. And if it doesn't, I'm sure Cooper will love it anyway!"

His expression softened. "Speaking of that..." He walked over to the crib and peeked inside, gently smiling at the little purple ghost within.

Cooper Black, named for the font they spoke in (according to Papyrus, who seemed to have an innate talent for telling these things), stared up at the dad who had carried their soul not too long ago. When he reached a hand into the crib, they reached out with one of their two tiny, free-floating skeletal hands and gently took hold of his finger. "Ah...?"

Mettaton giggled again. "Hello, Cooper, my little darling. The world is so exciting, isn't it? It's so exciting you don't want to go to sleep. I know; I've been through that before, especially when I travel."

He thought about all those city lights, beaches, and mountain ranges across the many locales he'd visited on his tours.

"Sleep is very important, though. It's good for your soul - and you can dream as well! Some of my favorite ideas came to me in dreams. Did you know-?" He paused for a second as he realized that a newborn actually wouldn't know these fun facts before sheepishly laughing. "Well, it should be a fun story to tell, at least."

Since Cooper still kept a firm grip on Mettaton's finger, he guessed that they wanted to be held, so he handed Papyrus the CD before gently lifting them out of the crib. Already, it seemed to do something, as Cooper gently nestled close in Mettaton's arms. Mettaton smiled at the sight; it seemed Cooper took after him in terms of liking to be held.

Papyrus looked at the unmarked jewel case Mettaton had handed him. "Is this...?"

Mettaton nodded. "Would you be a dear and play that CD, please? I can't wait to hear what Cooper thinks of it."

"Of course, my starlight!" From the moment Mettaton had told him about this idea, Papyrus had been excited too.

He walked over to the nearby dresser, where a little CD player rested near a photo of Mettaton, Napstablook, and Shyren, along with two little crochet dolls resembling Mettaton's two other cousins (Mew Mew and the training dummy, these dolls being gifts from the latter). With gentle maneuvers so as not to damage the CD, he removed the disc from its case and loaded it into the CD player.

When he pressed play, the sounds of various gentle musical instruments (such as a marimba and a harp) filled the air, and they played a lullaby using a melody that Papyrus recognized instantly - Mettaton's theme song.

"Oh, wowie..." Papyrus said, just like all those months ago.

Mettaton took a seat in one of the nearby chairs, still holding Cooper. "I thought this would be a nice way to introduce Cooper to my music." Even he had to admit that the normal renditions of his music - while still mostly family-friendly - might have been a little too loud and high-energy for a newborn baby who would mostly eat and sleep all day. He looked down at the little skeleghost in his arms. "I do hope you like it, sweetie."

Cooper nuzzled a bit closer, their eyes drifting shut.

Of course, Mettaton had wanted this recording to be extra-special. As Papyrus and Cooper soon discovered, Mettaton hadn't just recorded a lullaby rendition of the one song - he'd made an entire album's worth of lullaby versions of his songs. Songs from his movies, some of his other biggest hits, and some of his songs from the days underground, like "Oh! One True Love" and "Death by Glamour" - all sorts of Mettaton songs had their chance to shine in this new way.

Mettaton and Papyrus sat together in the chairs and allowed the album to play in full; by the time the last song finished, Cooper was sound asleep. With another gentle smile, Mettaton placed Cooper back in their crib.

"I think they loved it," Papyrus whispered.

"Oh, yes..." Mettaton thought about how afraid he'd been the very first time the idea of parenthood came up in his and Papyrus' conversations. Even though he seemed to be doing well so far, he knew more challenges would eventually crop up. And yet, as long as he had the support of Papyrus, as well as all their family and friends, he had a feeling that things just might turn out well in the end - and he could already imagine some of the fun things they could all do as a family.

As the two quietly crept out of the room to go watch a movie, Mettaton spared one last glance back at the crib, and his newest and littlest darling.

"Good night, Cooper. I love you."

**Author's Note:**

> A little more about Cooper Black, since this is my first time talking about them in detail: they're surprisingly quiet for who their parents are, but when they do speak, people tend to listen. They grow to be quite fond of poetry, and are in general a very gentle person, though a bit snarky from time to time.


End file.
